Ainu place names

When I was 8 years old, my family moved to a small town in Hokkaido called Bibai. The town's main industry was coal mining. It was hard, dirty and dangerous work. The mines eventually closed, and many people lost their jobs. But the name of the town was written with the kanji for "beautiful" and "song." I thought Beautiful Song was a splendid name for a town, even if it was poor and sooty, and I loved it.

Many, many years later, I was in Sapporo doing research on Ainu oral literature. I learned that 80 percent of Hokkaido place names — including Bibai — are from Ainu, not Japanese. The government often shortened the original Ainu names to make them easier for Japanese settlers to pronounce. Sometimes they translated the meaning of the original Ainu name into kanji. Other times they represented the sound of the original Ainu name with kanji that was not related to the original meaning.

Bibai is a good example of this. The Ainu called the village Pipa-o-i ("place of many swamp mussels"). The Japanese settlers arrived, and the village was renamed Numakai (Japanese for "swamp mussels"). Finally, it was renamed Bibai, a simplified pronunciation of the original Ainu name, written in kanji that was not related to the Ainu meaning.

The name of Sapporo, Hokkaido's largest city, is written with kanji that was chosen for its sound, not its meaning. The original Ainu name, Sat Poro Pet, means "dry, big river" in Ainu. But the name of Asahikawa, Hokkaido's second-largest city, is written with kanji that was chosen for its meaning, not its sound. The original Ainu name, which the Japanese settlers thought was Chup Pet, means "morning sun river."

Hokkaido place names tell us about the Ainu way of life. Sometimes they describe landmarks of important historical events and rituals. Other times they describe the location of food sources, or materials for clothing or building houses.

Place names that originate in the language of indigenous peoples can be found in many countries besides Japan. Of course, this includes English-speaking countries. Many books have been written on the subject. Seeking out such locations can be a fun way to plan a trip. Perhaps you have already done this. If so, what did you learn about indigenous cultures from those place names?